…1011100101…
TK Takaishi walked through the park; his mother had told him just before he left school to meet him there. TK sighed and wondered what it would be, the last time he had come here with his mother, his parents had broken up. He kicked the dirt with his feet wondering what the bad news it might be today. TK looked to the side and saw an open field where kids were playing with Digimon. He smiled and remembered that he had to get Patamon soon. After coming back for the past couple of months the Digimon had started to grow exhausted without regular trips to the Digital World, so they had send them back for a vacation.
He then noticed not too far along the path was his brother, Matt, standing there. The two siblings starred at one another, within the past year, TK had grown taller and looked less like the preteen he had been the year before, and more like the teenager he was becoming. Matt seemed to have changed as well, but not as drastically as TK had, both teenagers smiled at each other and the younger joined his elder sibling.
“What brings you here Ototo-san?” asked Matt coolly.
“Mom said to meet me here. And you Onii-san?” asked TK
“Dad said to meet me here. For some reason I suspect foul play…” said Matt
“Come now, don’t tease the ducks!” said TK jokingly
“Very funny… ha ha” said Matt sarcastically at TK’s joke.
“Hey I thought it was funny!” said TK in a mock childish voice, pretending to be offended.
“Come on let’s go…” said Matt rolling his eyes, and TK agreed. It was as they approached the meeting place that he saw a shiny object in the grass, not too far off the path. TK walked over and picked it up, and noticed it was a weird little machine, with several buttons and a screen with digital numbers on it, right now the numbers said 00. The buttons next to the screen had a little (+) and (-) signs, and below the screen was a large button saying (Enter). The buttons on the side were on/off switches, one saying (Men. Adjt.), and the other saying (Clo. Adjt.) Both were pushed to the on position. And then from another side there was a little lens.
“Looks like some type of neanderthal camera, with a timer…” said Matt looking over TK’s shoulder. TK pressed the (-) button a few times, and the numbers on the screen changed to (-19). They then saw farther down the path, none other than their parents, who were talking at the moment on a bench.
“Wait a minute! I’ve got an idea!” said Matt, who whispered something into TK’s ear, and he nodded mischievously. They entered the foliage, and ducked down and snuck up until they were across from their parents. The idea seemed juvenile, but for some odd reason it appealed to both brothers. As they watched, they saw their parents lean closer to one another, and TK got the weird camera ready, and pressed it just as they were about to embrace one another, immediately a flash went off, and both teens were blinded by the bright flash. When the light subsided, a few seconds later, two kids TK’s age sat there wearing clothes fashionable in the ‘80s. Both looked awfully confused as to why they were so close to one another.
“I’m sorry what were you saying?” asked the young teenage blonde girl.
“I… uhh… didn’t say anything…” muttered the young teenage brunette boy quietly, and he bit his lip. Both moved apart, and looked away from one another. Both teenage blondes in the grass were dumbfounded, where their parents had been one moment now two thirteen year olds sat. The girl suddenly got up and went one direction; the boy looked down hearted and got up and went another. Coming out of their shock they realized they had to catch them before they lost them.
“Oh my god! You get Mom and I’ll get Dad! I’ll stall him while you change her back!” said Matt, rushing after the sulking teen. TK rushed after the blonde teen that seemed to be heading for the edge of the park. TK quickened his pace, setting the controls for (+19) as he ran. He managed to catch up, but then tripped right in front of her, stopping her right in his tracks, and he pressed the enter button, luckily it was aimed right at her. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t affect her at all.
“Oh my! Are you hurt? Here! Let me help you up!” she said, grabbing him by the elbows and lifting him up with slight difficulty.
“Uhh… thanks…” said TK, and he noticed that the machine had not undone the damage it had done.
“My name’s Natti. What’s yours?” she asked.
“TK…” said TK, he now didn’t know what to do.
“Well, TK… I’m glad we met. Say! My parents are out of town for the weekend. Why don’t you drop by my place, around five?” asked the girl with a very sweet smile. This smile sent up large warning flags up in TK’s mind, but it would give him an hour and a half to figure out what was wrong with the machine, and he would have another chance at changing her back. Plus, his grandparents still owned their apartment in Tokyo, and they were away in Paris at the moment anyway.
So going against his own warnings popping up in his mind he said “Sure… at five… where?” asked TK pretending not to know where his grandparent’s apartment was.
“Here… let me write down the address for you…” she said, and out of her small purse she pulled out a Hello Kitty note pad (A/N: Hello Kitty was founded in 1975 for those of you who don’t know) and wrote the address and handed it to T.K. She then smiled at him and left him there slightly dumbstruck. T.K. then realized that Matt was delaying his now thirteen year old Dad, and headed down the path that they had gone.
…1011100101…
“Hey! Have I seen you before?” asked Matt, approaching the sulking thirteen year old Hiroaki Ishida.
“I don’t know” said the teen in response.
“Look, I saw you back there-” started Matt, who was immediately cut off by desperate pleas from the younger teen.
“I didn’t know she was you’re girlfriend, I was just sitting there when she sat down and then-” shouted the teen.
“Whoa! Whoa! She’s not my girlfriend, but I did see what happened, and I can uhh… give you a few pointers on how to prevent that from happening again!” said Matt. TK caught up at this point and hid behind a tree, and quickly aimed the machine at his teenage father, again it did nothing. The teen then saw TK hiding behind the tree and with something that looked like a camera, and immediately it all began to fall into place for him.
“Excuse me, I’m going to go, before I’m the butt of your twisted joke…” said Hiroaki, and he started to turn away.
“Wait! Where are you going? Why don’t you come over to my place and I can give you those hints there!” said Matt, grabbing his thirteen year old father by the shoulder and showing him the way towards his apartment, TK tailed them, trying not to be seen. When Matt pushed his dad into his apartment, TK knocked on the door.
“Oh TK… uhh… Can we talk outside?” asked Matt
“What happened? Did you press the right buttons?” asked Matt as
“I set it for (+19) years but it did nothing for mom or dad…”
“It can’t be malfunctioning! Here try it on that table over there! It’s only been there for the past four years…” said Matt, and T.K. entered in (-5), and when the light subsided there was nothing but a small tree where the table had been.
“You know what it might have been! It might have been the fact that they were together when it originally took place, so that would mean we’re going to have to get them back together to get things back to normal! And where did mom go while I’m at it?!” exclaimed Matt
“She said she was going to her parent’s apartment…” said TK
“What a surprise for her when she finds that all of the furniture is covered with bed sheets and it looks like no one has live there in over ten years…” said Matt sarcastically, and at that moment the elevator door opened, to reveal Kari Kaymia. Over the past year she had grown in height, but still was slightly shorter than TK, her hair had grown down to shoulder length, and she had matured over all very well. She saw the two brothers and immediately quickened her pace, walking directly for them.
“I’ll take care of Kari. You distract him for a little longer!” said TK, and Matt nodded and went back into the apartment.
“Hey Kari! What are you doing over here?” asked TK slightly nervous.
“Well I wanted to talk to you. So I went to your apartment and no one was home, then I came over here. What’s that you have in your hand?” asked Kari
“Oh nothing!” said TK, hiding the machine behind his back. Unfortunately for him this did not satisfy her curiosity. She immediately went and grabbed it. He cursed his nervousness which caused his sweaty hands, and immediately went to grab it back but failed.
“What is this? Some type of camera?” asked Kari looking it over.
“Kari! Don’t touch a button! Just give it back to me please!” shouted TK frantically, and Kari got the feeling that he was joking around with her so she decided to joke along.
“Okay TK… Smile!” she said, and she pressed the enter button. A blinding flash enveloped TK, and when Kari could see again, the boy who had saved her from Piedmon, in the same clothes he had done the act in even, standing where TK had once stood.
“OH MY GOD!” cried out Kari.
“…who are you?” asked the little boy with a natural curiosity. Just then Matt opened the door.
“What’s wrong I heard scream-” said Matt and then he saw the little boy in front of him.
“…hi…” he said meekly, and Matt, showing signs of shock, shut the door to the apartment, and went to the other side of the hallway, as if he knew what had caused it to happen.
“Kari, give me the machine!” said Matt, and she did so. She was still slightly in shock at what the tiny machine had done. Matt reset it, and aimed it the eight-year-old in front of him.
“What are you going to do?” asked the young blonde just as Matt pushed the button, and the blinding flash came and the normal thirteen year old TK stood before them.
“Uggh… what happened?” asked TK as he looked to be recovering from a migraine.
“I didn’t mean to TK! I thought you were just kidding when you said not to press a button!” said Kari
“WHAT!” shouted TK, and he looked over himself to make sure nothing was out of place, and was about to question her what she had done, when they were interrupted.
“What’s going on out here?” asked another voice, and the three looked to see Hiroaki had opened the door of the apartment.
“Oh! Nothing Hiroaki! I’ll be with you in a minute!” said Matt, going back to the other side of the hallway, and shutting the door.
“Guys… what’s going on here? And who was that and why does he look familiar?” asked Kari
“That’s our Dad…” said TK
“Ohh… well that explains everything… now start from the beginning of the story!” said Kari and both boys told their stories. By the time the conversation was over with it was nearing 4:30 PM.
“Mom asked you on a date and you accepted!” exclaimed Matt with disgust in his tone.
“I only accepted because I thought it might give me another chance to turn her back to normal!” said TK defending his actions.
“Be that as it may…” said Matt
“Look, you need to find a solution right?” asked Kari
“No duh!” said Matt
“Well then I think I’ve got an idea that might work. TK go to your mom, and talk her into going over to the park. Matt and I will get your Dad there, and then we’ll get them back to normal!” said Kari
“Why not bring them here?” asked TK
“Remember when we just corrected you?” asked Kari
“No…” said TK
“Well, I accidentally made you younger without realizing it. You acted exactly like you did when you were eight. And when Matt restored you back to normal, you didn’t have any memory of being younger. So bring them to the park, so that way it’ll seem that they’ve just been making out all afternoon and just lost track of time!” said Kari
“How did you come up with all of that in such a small period of time?!” asked TK in awe.
“Just get going! It’s almost five o’clock! The sooner we do this, the better!” said Matt, and TK headed off for his Grandparents’ old apartment, which, luckily for him, was not too far from this building.
“Okay, I’ll go talk him into- ahh!” said Matt, and suddenly as he grabbed the door handle he felt a severe pain spread through his body and then dissipate.
“Matt are you okay?” asked Kari, and when he turned around she gasped, instead of the sixteen-year-old Matt; there stood before her a fourteen year old version.
“What?” he asked, his voice slightly higher than normal, and then he realized what had happened, and saw the device clearly in his hands, and pointed at the floor away from him. He also saw that the clothes, which had fit him perfectly just a second ago, now, seemed quite baggy on his smaller form.
“I have a bad feeling that this is Time trying to correct itself, by changing the timeline of everyone who’s directly involved. So if it’s rewriting history so that your parents would have been born thirteen years ago, that would mean you wouldn’t be alive now, but later on in the future. Which just leaves me with the feeling that if we don’t get your parents to their normal ages soon. I may have to start changing your diapers.” said Kari.
“Whoa! You just went all out like Izzy! Did you two switch bodies or something?” asked Matt
“No, remember when I was little, everyone seemed to comment on the fact that I had this wise beyond my years attitude, so I hide that since it wasn’t getting me too many friends. But after last year I’ve realized that it doesn’t matter how I am, that I’ll always have my friends” said Kari.
“Thank you for giving me a speech on my own crest, but I could have told you tha-aggh!” cried out Matt. The next thing Matt knew was that he was no long slightly above Kari’s level, but now slightly below it.
“Now what do we do?! I can’t go in there now, it’ll confuse him, and what if this happens again while we’re getting him to the park?” asked Matt
“Give me a minute to think of a solution…” she said. She then stared at the seemingly innocent little device that had caused the entire mess. Just then she had a brilliant idea, or at least she thought it was brilliant.
“Matt, how old would, I have to become to look like your mother, and still be convincible?” asked Kari
“Huh?” asked Matt
“Nineteen years good enough?” asked Kari
“Uhh… what about your clothes?” asked Matt
“When TK changed, his clothes changed with him. Wait a minute! What do those buttons on the side do?” asked Kari
“They’re abbreviated (Men. Adjt.) and (Clo. Adjt.), and they’re both turned on.” said Matt
“(Clo. Adjt.) I’m figuring must stand for Clothes Adjustment. But what does the other switch stand for?” asked Kari
“Men… Menial… Ment… Mental! Probably Mental Adjustment!” said Matt
“Okay, turn the mental one off. I don’t want to be thinking like I will in nineteen years, or I might forget the whole scheme I just set up!” said Kari, and Matt did what she had said. Then he set the machine for (+19), and aimed it at Kari. When the bright light subsided, thirty-two year old Kari Kaymia stood before him, in conservative motherly clothes.
“Hey! It’s nice to be tall for once! Wait a minute… this is what I’ll be wearing in nineteen years!” exclaimed Kari as she looked down at her wardrobe. Suddenly Matt felt another surge of pain coming.
“Right! I’ll be back in a minute, hide before he comes out.” said Kari, being reminded of her plan by Matt’s condition. Kari then entered the apartment, hoping her plan would work.
…1011100101…
TK knocked on his grandparent’s door, from inside he could hear eighties style music coming from within the apartment. Not a good sign for having a chance at getting her out of the apartment. He felt a momentary twinge of pain before he knocked but he shook it off, and as if she had been waiting, she opened the door only three seconds after the last knock.
“Hi TK! Come on in!” said Natti energetically, and he felt himself being pulled in. She then led him to the living room. She apparently had been busy in the past hour and a half cleaning up the dust and sheet covered apartment. She almost pulled him over to the couch, and he sat down on the edge, and she sat quite close to him and facing him.
“So what do you want to do? I’ve got some of the latest music on record!” said Natti slyly.
“I was thinking about going out for a stroll in the park instead Natti…” mentioned TK
She then just sighed, and looked into his eyes and gave this whole look of innocence about her and said “But I asked you here for a reason…” She had said that with an almost mischievous smirk and glance in her eyes. She grabbed his hand and started playing with it, and was slowly pushing back his long sleeve with her fingers and began stroking his lower arm with her finger tips. It sent chills down his spine, and she seemed to be slowly working her way up and over to his chest, and from there TK could only imagine where she would go. TK suddenly felt very uncomfortable, he then mentally kicked himself and the Oedipus-like thoughts forming in his head.
“But, Natti… it’s becoming such a nice night out. It looks like there’s going to be a full moon even, and then we could come back here…” said TK hoping this would entice her out of the apartment. He had trouble saying the nickname she had asked him to say.
“Oh! Well if you put it that way, I’ll grab my coat!” she said, and she grabbed a denim jacket and turned the record off, and they walked out of the apartment. TK only hoped Kari and Matt were keeping their part of the plan up.
…1011100101…
Hiroaki had just about had enough. If he was going to be made another butt of a joke, he might as well get it over with now. He walked towards the door, only to find it being opened, and a brunette adult entered the apartment. She was humming to herself, and then rested her eyes on Hiroaki.
“What are you doing in my apartment?” asked the woman dressed in conservative clothes that mother would wear.
“I’m sorry but I was invited over by-” started Hiroaki
“Oh, you must be one of Matt’s friends right?” asked the woman.
“Yeah…” said Hiroaki, wanting to get out of the apartment as fast as possible.
“Well, I’d be leaving right about now if I were you. When I got onto this floor I saw Matt and his other friends, I overheard as I passed them out in the hallway that he and his other friends were planning on humiliating you. I also overheard that if you skipped out now, that they’d be waiting at your house. I suggest you go to the park, and cool your heels. After all, Matt has curfew at eight, and if he’s late, he’d deeply regret the punishment he’d receive.” said the brunette woman. And Hiroaki nodded, showing he understood, and left the apartment, heading for the park to do as the woman had suggested. But before he entered the elevator, he noticed something odd in the middle of the hallway, a small tree with no pot, and a shoe.
…1011100101…
TK walked along the park’s walkways, the sun was beginning to set, and he had the younger version of his mother leaning her head on his shoulder wistfully. TK felt very uncomfortable at letting her do this, and she was staring her wrist stroking again. She starred at the sunset as he looked around crazily for a sign from either Matt or Kari that would save him. Just then he felt a pain pass through his body, and he jerked away from his teenage mother.
“TK! What’s wrong?” asked Natti in a concerned tone.
“I don’t know!” said TK, and he looked at his hands as he saw his sleeves slowly push down past his wrists and to mid thumb, and they didn’t seem to be stopping there, and suddenly he felt more room in his shorts, shoes, and hats. TK realized what was happening and ran quickly in a direction. By the time Natti rose and had started to follow him, she found he was gone, but instead saw a brunette adult woman.
“Excuse me, but did a blonde haired boy about my height just run by here?” asked Natti
“Yes… he went that away…” said the woman to Natti, and Natti ran in the direction the woman had pointed.
Instead of finding TK, she saw the boy who she had nearly kissed earlier in the day. It was the same boy who her best friend, Yuukia, had convinced her to enter a bet that she could get him to kiss her on the lips. She looked over him, and could see he wasn’t as bad looking as Yuukia had described him; in fact he looked kind of cute, in an average way. She giggled and walked towards him; she could at least make the best out of the situation, and get the twenty yen out of it. So she put the urge of finding TK to the wayside.
“Uhh… hi…” he said
“Hey… you’re name’s Hiroaki right?” asked Natti
“Yeah...” said Hiroaki nervously.
“Well… I have something to tell you…” she said, and she leaned up to his ears as if to whisper something but instead kissed him on the cheek. Hiroaki blushed profusely.
“You know when a girl gives a kiss… she usually expects one in return…” said Natti, and Hiroaki turned even a darker shade of red, paused but then slowly leaned down, going for the cheek like she had.
“Oh no! On the lips…” she said coyly, and he gulped then redirected the kiss. Natti felt she’d have the twenty yen for sure.
Just as their lips met a flash of light occurred, and when the bright light subsided in their places now stood the adult versions, in a lip lock. When they broke it off they smiled at each other, and then noticed that the sun had just set.
“I told TK to meet us here…” said Natsuko
“And I told Matt to too…” said Hiroaki
“They must have gotten scared off when they saw us…” said Natsuko
“They would have gone to my place…” said Hiroaki, and they then turned, her arm in his and they walked out of the park. As soon as they were out of eyeshot, another bright flash occurred, and then Kari, TK and Matt came out from the bushes. All three were their appropriate age and TK with the machine in his hands.
“Brilliant idea Kari, but now we have to get back before they do!” said TK, and they took off, taking every shortcut they knew, until at last they up in the apartment. Matt said he had to get something to drink and excused himself. Kari stood, inhaling deeply, and TK lay back on the couch doing the same.
“Thanks Kari…” said TK, his breathing returning to normal.
“Anytime! But next time could you just make them five years younger? So that way it isn’t as hard to figure out how to fix the problem!” said Kari, and he laughed at her joke. Kari then came up with an idea, and she wondered if she would act on it. Teenage hormones getting the best of her, she came towards the couch, only to trip over a backpack, and land right on top of TK, ruining her entire plan. Matt came back from the kitchen to see what was the matter, when suddenly the door opened, and there stood his parents, who immediately noticed Kari on top of TK on the couch, both looked shocked out of their gourd.
“Uhh, Mom… Dad… what a pleasant surprise…” said Matt hesitantly, and with a fake laugh.
…1011100101…
“I can’t believe it! They’re only thirteen!” said Natsuko
“Neither can I, I’m going to have to phone her parents about this…” said Hiroaki
“I mean when I was that age I never did anything that was as provocative or hinting, like that!” said Natsuko
“You know kids these days… they’re all growing up too fast!” said Hiroaki
…1011100101…
TK bit his lip as he heard his parents discussing what to do; both he and Matt had been told to go to their rooms, Matt went to his, and TK to the room his dad had set up for when TK would visit. Kari had been sent home. He sat on the ground, knees brought up to his chest, and head looking down. He knew what was coming and knew that he wasn’t going to be getting out of it. That’s when he notice a weird dial that he hadn’t noticed before, it was on the other side of the machine. And on it there was written on it the following words: MILLENIAS, CENTURIES, DECADES, YEARS, MONTHS, WEEKS, DAYS, HOURS, MINUTES, and SECONDS. And it was currently turned to years. Suddenly a solution popped into his head, and he grabbed the machine and turned the dial. TK knew that a few minutes ago he wouldn’t have to go through that talk after all...
…1011100101…
The End
…1011100101…